Abundant harvests

Greenhouses for growing vegetables are catching on, and farmers are happy. Killid reports on the new trend from a few provinces including Uruzgan and Farah.

Kandahar
On July 1, 15 greenhouses were handed over to local communities in Kandahar province. The authorities in the agriculture and livestock presidency say the greenhouses in Daman and Dand districts would ensure the economic development of farmers. Sayed Hafizullah Sayidee, head of Kandahar agriculture and livestock reveals 11 more greenhouses are under construction. “Seventy percent of the work is completed,” he said.
“We have spent 177,238 USD on these greenhouses.”
Uruzgan
A month earlier on June 10, eight greenhouses, built by the provincial government, were handed over to people. At a public function on the occasion, Mohammad Nazir Kharoti, governor of Uruzgan, said each greenhouse was built on one jerib of land, and the money for construction was from a nongovernmental organisation. The total cost of construction was 29 million Afs (422,100 USD). “The climate (in Uruzgan) is suitable for agriculture as there is plenty of water. We want to increase agricultural production so people have work and we can make ourselves independent of our dependence on neighbouring countries for clean vegetables and fruits.”
Farah
Adjoining Kandahar and Uruzgan, the province of Farah has 65,000 small and big active greenhouses. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the province’s greenhouses produce 110,000 tonnes of vegetables and fruits.
Lutufullah Rashed, spokesperson for the ministry, says greenhouse yields have increased by 20 percent this year. “The greenhouses produce 1,000 tonnes of food every day. The volume of produce has increased this year. Roughly 110,000 tonnes are likely to be harvested this year from greenhouses.”
The produce satisfies the needs of people in Farah and is also exported to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Spokesperson Rashed wishes Afghan farmers in all provinces would work as hard as the Farah farmer. “We hope farmers in every province would work hard. Farmers in Farah earn a total income of 30 million USD from the province’s 65,000 big and small greenhouses, which is a very big income and cannot be gotten from any other business.”
Khost
Like elsewhere, Khost too has encouraged farmers to cultivate in greenhouses. There are some 100 active greenhouses in the province, set up by the Ministry of Agriculture with assistance from an international organisation. The authorities in Khost say these were set up at a total cost of 670,000 USD.
Governor of Khost Hukum Khan Habibi says, “A quantity of 650 tonnes of fresh vegetables can be supplied to the market every year – this would meet the requirements of vegetables and some fruits for people of Khost. We would not need to import.”
Meanwhile, Samiaullah Nasrat, the head of agriculture and livestock, said another 50 greenhouses would soon open in Khost. “The 50 more greenhouses would cost 350,000 USD – 70 percent of the money would be provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the rest from the farmers themselves.”
Khost’s farmers are pleased they are able to provide people with “cheap and fresh vegetables”. Ataullah, a farmer, considers he is doing a “service” to people in his province. Arafudin, another farmer, praises the government for encouraging greenhouse farming. “If we did not have the government we could not have developed,” he says.
Nematullah Matoonwal, a resident of Khost city, says vegetables like cucumber and pepper were seasonal at one time but now they are available round the year. “This is a big development for us,” he says.
According to Matoonwal, many youths are involved in greenhouse farming.